Tuna Pizza

Take your pizza on a European vacation by swapping out greasy pepperoni and sausage for protein packed, savoury canned tuna. While it sounds “out there” for many Americans, this tuna, onion, roasted red pepper, and olive topped pie is an enduringly popular pizza choice in much of Europe for good reason!

Tuna Pizza

Look. I know that if you haven’t tried tuna on pizza, there is a solid chance you think I’m certifiable right now. But tuna as a pizza topper has been popular in Europe for decades because it is delicious!

If you’ve ever had a tuna melt (and hello, Americans, I know most of you have had that!) you have tasted something that is at least a little similar. Hearty, meaty, oil-packed tuna is the star of the show, but there are supporting players to be sure.

So what makes this unusual combination so special? On top of the usual “crust, sauce, cheese” pizza base, we scatter savoury, hearty, oil-packed tuna, thinly sliced onions, olives, and bell peppers.

If you’re feeling like getting extra authentic with your European pizza adventure, add some corn kernels that you’ve cut off the cob, too. Those popping corn kernels adds a hint of sweet, juicy, fresh corn that is pretty magical. The corn is optional, but it is so good, I encourage you to try it!

It’s a “love it or hate it” pizza combination and I’m definitely a lover not a hater!

Tuna Fish Pizza

Tuna fish pizza is extremely popular in Germany, but is also pretty well loved in Italy, The Netherlands, Finland, and Eastern Europe. Japan even has a popular version featuring white sauce and sweet corn.

The key to a successful tuna pizza, as with so many other recipes, is the quality of the ingredients you start with. A pizza is always as good as it’s crust, so pick a pizza dough you love, whether it’s homemade pizza dough or store bought. Many pizza places will happily sell you a ball or two of their pizza dough if you ask!

You can make this pizza in your home oven or in a pizza oven.

Tuna on Pizza

I strongly recommend that you use a high quality tuna on your tuna pie. For me, this means oil-packed tuna. Because tuna is so lean, sometimes water-packed tuna appears to disintegrate in the commercial canning process.

While I’m still a fan of water packed tuna for tuna salad without mayonnaise and other sandwiches, it’s not the one I reach for when making tuna pizza. I want bigger, more recognizable chunks of tuna on my pizza.

Oil-packed tuna is most often in much larger, recognizable fillets and has a more succulent texture. This makes it ideal for pulling apart into larger pieces on a pizza or salad.

While black olives and red onion are the most popular choices to top Italy’s beloved traditional Pizza al Tonno, you can definitely take a little culinary artistic license and swap in green olives and white or yellow onions.

Roasted red pepper is optional, but ever so tasty. And you can choose between homemade roasted red peppers and jarred ones from the store. Both work equally well here.

If you’re going to put corn on the pizza, you’ll get the best results if you use freshly cut off of the cob or corn that you froze yourself. That said, I’ve made this with canned and frozen corn when I run out of my freezer stash and been happy with both!

Looking for more great fish recipes? Try our Old Fashioned Salmon Patties Recipe: made of simple ingredients from the pantry, our Old-Fashioned Salmon Patties recipe yields sizzling, golden brown salmon cakes that are crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Salmon Soup is a light fish chowder in a creamy broth strewn with fresh dill that still manages to be substantial by virtue of hearty potatoes, carrots, leeks, and bite sized chunks of salmon. It’s comforting enough to warm you from the inside out during cold winter days, but delicious and light enough to see you through last minute meals year round.

Taco seasoning rubbed cod is the star of these lightning fast, terrifically easy Air Fryer Fish Tacos. Done in about 15 minutes from start to finish these fish tacos are going to be a new favourite busy weeknight meal!